The biggest
differences in Sugarhill & Enjoy! first: Sugarhill beat Enjoy! to
the punch as far as releasing rap records . Secondly , Enjoy! signed more
crews who actually had formed groups , rocked the streets/known Hip Hop
clubs and earned a rep ; as opposed to Sugarhill who signed a lot of
groups that were parody acts designed to make a quick buck. . Lastly,
Enjoy! didn't have the power / funds or contacts in the industry to really
push the material that they released.

Bobby
Robinson is the founder of Enjoy Records . He was going to originally open
up a shoeshine parlor in Harlem in 1945. He later noticed that there was
only one record store on 125th st - Rainbow record shop. He started his
record store in 1946 . He did so well that executives from Chess &
Atlantic records started to seek his advice. In 1949 he produced his first
record - the label was called Robin records . He went on to produce
several Doo Wop groups such as the Charts & the Channels . He also had 2
other labels - Fire and Fury . His biggest hit was " Kansas City " by
Wilbert Harrison . Bobby also is said to have discovered Glady Knight &
The Pips.

Around 1977
Hip Hop caught his attention...he saw the kids doing it in the parks. He
also had a Nephew named Gabriel Jackson
aka Spoonie Gee . Spoonie asked his Uncle to let him record several times
. He didn't pay any attention until Sugarhill released the several times
platinum "Rappers Delight" . Bobby asked Spoonie who the best Emcees were
and Spoonie replied Furious 5 & Funky 4 . " Rappin & Rockin The House " by
Funky 4 was Enjoys first release . Later came "Superrappin" by Furious .
He was reportedly selling 2000 plus copies a day of both records.

Next came "
Love Rap " / " New Rap Language " by the Treacherous 3 (Spoonie was a
member of Treacherous at the time) . Bobby went on to sign Disco 4 , of
which his son was a member , Fearless 4 , Masterdon Committee , Dougie
Fresh , Kool Kyle and several others . By 1980 Furious 5 & Funky 4 went
to Sugarhill , both displeased with his lack of power to get thier
releases played like Sugarhill could . Treacherous 3 would later go to
Sugarhill as well . Disco 4 , Pumpkin , Masterdon and Kool Kyle all went
to Profile ; and Enjoy was out of the business by 1985 . Enjoy and
Sugarhill are no doubt the blueprint for the entire rap record industry
.

SUGAR HILL

This is the
label that started it all . Sugarhill was the first to sucsessfully market
Hip Hop music , and made the 12" single a marketable format for music .
Many artists from the original school of rap passed through the label -
Spoonie G , GMF & Furious 5 , Kevie Kev (from Fantastic 5) , Busy Bee ,
Crash Crew , Treach 3 , Funky 4 + 1 in addition to Mean Machine , Sequence
(Angie Stones first group) , Sugarhill Gang and many more . Even Go Go
band Trouble Funk was once affiliated . Singers like Philippe Wynn of the
Spinners , Ray Goodman & Brown (The Moments) , Candi Staton and others
also released material from this Jersey based powerhouse .

Sugarhill
was started by Joe & Sylvia Robinson . Actually they already had a few
labels releasing R&B in the 70s - Stang , All
Platinum & Turbo . Sylvia had sucsess with " Love Is Strange " , and "
Pillow Talk ". She had a good ear for hits and was well established in the
music biz . Sugarhill was an influential section of Harlem - and that was
the basis for the name of her new label . The story goes that Morris Levy
fronted the couple money for the label . Levy owned Roulette records ,
which has a Roulette logo 95% identical to the first Sugarhill Releases.
(See photo on the left) . One of the first releases on Sugarhill was
Positve Forces " We Got The Funk " . It was a very good record and it
received heavy radio play . Rakim sampled it for his remix to " Let The
Rythm Hit Em " in the late 80s. The bomb of course was dropped with "
Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang . After the multiplatinum sales of
that record Sylvia released Greatest Rap Hits vol 1 in 1980 . By this time
she had signed Furious 5 , and had secured rights to songs by Funky 4 ,
Lady B and any other popular rap songs at the time . In the next few years
she had signed all of Enjoy Records (her only real competitor at the time)
good artists .

The
label continued to release quality material including Grandmaster Flash &
F 5s the Message . The label started to lose steam by ' 83 when the whole
new school was emerging led by Run Dmc . The label failed to change with
the times and by 1985 was releasing its last material . Notable releases
in the last days were "Gotta Rock" by Treacherous 3 , "Step Off" , "Pump
Me Up" by Furious 5 , "Busy Bs Groove" by Busy Bee. Without a doubt the
whole industry of Hip Hop would be totally different if it was not for the
vision of Joe & Sylvia Robinson.